“Project Screen” — A Follow‐up Study of a Pre‐school Screening Battery

This study examines a pre‐school screening survey battery with an aim to validate it in terms of predicting school performance. Subjects participating in the screening were tested at the end of their first year at school. Analysis of the data, using a canonical correlation procedure, suggested elimination of a number of test items ‐‐ age, sex, age of walking, socio‐economic rating, Draw‐a‐Man Test, balance and posture, body image, perceptual motor match, height and weight. Measures of general ability, visual discrimination, visual reception, general development, receptive language, language concepts and positional concepts were the best predictors of school performance.     

A large-scale test of the relationship between procrastination and performance using learning analytics

Abstract

Many studies have found a relationship between students’ self-reported procrastination and their grades. Few studies have used learning analytic data as a behavioural measure of procrastination in order to predict performance, and there is no systematic research on how this relationship may differ across assessments or disciplines. In this study we analyse nine years’ worth of institutional electronic submission records, a total of 73,608 assignment submissions, to examine the relationship between submission time and grades across assignments, students, courses, and disciplines in higher education. A significant negative relationship was found overall, with students who submitted closer to the deadline obtaining lower grades, however the size of the relationship was negligible, accounting for less than 1% of the variance in grades. The relationship varied significantly depending on student, assignment, course and discipline.     

Asking the ‘Right’ Questions. Identifying Issues in Developing a Technological Solution

It is well established that technological education is not just about the development of technical expertise. A socially constructed view of technology aims to recognise the culture of technology. Technology education as expressed in the New Zealand curriculum provides an opportunity for societal issues to have equal space with technological capability and technological knowledge. However, when technological activities focus on solutions it is all too easy for stakeholders' positions to be ignored. There is a need for a teaching approach to engage in a liberating technological literacy discourse where values and beliefs of all participants directly and indirectly involved in the activity, are examined. This research monitored a professional development programme where identification of the values represented in a familiar object provided a model for discussion and the development of a teaching environment that promoted consideration of values during problem-solving. The data have been collected from primary school teachers who developed teaching programmes for Years 1 to 8 (5–12 years).     

Classroom to Communities of Practice: Benefits for English Learners and Teacher Candidates Through Partnerships

This study investigates a service-learning program for university students seeking teacher certification examined through the lens of sociocultural theory. Data was collected from teacher candidates (TCs) in the form of surveys and an open-ended writing assignment. Administrators from the partner schools were also interviewed to provide their perspectives of the service learning. Findings show that the service-learning program allowed TCs and their English learners (ELs) to form communities of practice that were mutually beneficial. Teacher candidates reported numerous opportunities to apply the strategies learned in their methods course, as well as an increase in their sense of preparation for teaching ELs. Administrators provided positive feedback about the service-learning program in terms of the relationship between the partner school and the university. Difficulties arose in terms of TCs' accountability and the level of participation afforded to the TCs by the classroom teacher. Implications highlight the importance of negotiating expectations that address the needs of both parties equally in order to support a strong community of practice that prepares TCs to meet the needs of ELs.     

Process Re-Design For Enhanced Human Performance

Faced with sophisticated global competition, companies arc busily reinventing themselves. This offers an opportunity for performance technologists t.o re-think the value added component of their contribution to enhanc-ing human performance. In this eval u-ation. the four values of speed, simplicity, stretch, and self-conlidenco assume a central role. Design, as in the past, is key, but design must, be founded on the assumption that all human performance involves a process or combination of processes. Furthermore, processes are subject to variability of one kind or another, variability that is either predictable or random. It is argued that a process orientation, rather than a focus on inputs and outputs, offers performance technologists a more direct way of contributing to the realization of key business goals and more effectively focuses training and development on performance issues. Process re-design is a key strategy in the realization of these two goals.